Remarks by a three-star U.S. Army general casting the war on terrorism in religious terms drew rebukes yesterday from politicians and military specialists and calls from religious groups for the officer to be reassigned or reprimanded. But the Pentagon’s top military commander defended the officer, Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin, saying he did not think any military rules had been broken. The controversy followed reports Wednesday on “NBC Nightly News” and yesterday in the Los Angeles Times citing Boykin, who is an evangelical Christian, speaking in uniform to church audiences over the past two years. He spoke of Islamic extremists hating the United States because “we’re a Christian nation” and added that our “spiritual enemy will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus.” He said that President Bush “is in the White House because God put him there,” and that “we in the army of God . . . have been raised for such a time as this.” Discussing a U.S. Army battle against a Muslim warlord in Somalia in 1993, Boykin told one audience: “I knew my god was bigger than his. I knew that my god was a real god and his was an idol.” Full Story
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